Genealogy

Etymology

Gwaihir comes from Sindaringwaew ("wind")[4] and possibly hîr "lord". His name could thus likely be translated as "Windlord".

Other versions

Eagles named "Gwaihir" and "Landroval" (or, in even earlier texts, "Gwaewar" and "Lhandroval") appeared in early Silmarillion, as vassals of Thorondor who helped to bear Beren and Lúthien from Angband[5]. These references were removed by Christopher Tolkien to escape the seeming discrepancy with The Lord of the Rings, although later he admitted that he was not sure about his father's intentions.[6][7]

In the whole Lord of the Rings Gwaihir carries Gandalf twice, and by the end of the book Gandalf says that Gwaihir had carried him twice[8]; this implies that Gwaihir never carried him before the timeframe of the book.